m 


i  I 


!i! 


I 


1 

if 
I! 


ADDRESS  OF  POSTMASTER  GENERAL  CORTELYOU 
AT  THE  THIRTY-FOURTH  ANNUAL  COMMENCE- 
MENT OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS.  URBANA, 
ILLINOIS.  JUNE  7.  1905 


EDUCATION  AND  CITIZENSHIP 


EDUCATION  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 


PrESIDKNT   JaMKS,  LaDIKS  and  (xKNTLENfEN  : 

I  heartily  appreciate  the  honor  you  liave  done  me  in 
asking  me  to  speak  at  these  exercises,  and  J  am  especially 
gratified  to  be  so  cordially  welcomed  by  this  western  uni- 
versity. 

In  no  direction  has  our  national  progress  been  more 
marked  than  in  the  wonderful  development  of  the  colleges 
and  universities  of  the  West,  and  this  is,  of  course,  coinci- 
dent with  development  in  the  secondary  schools,  which  are 
the  feeders  of  our  institutions  of  higher  education.  This 
university's  growth  has  been  typical  of  national  growth. 
From  small  beginnings  it  has  come,  in  a  comparatively 
short  time,  to  a  position  of  power  and  influence  ;  but  even 
when  small  in  numbers  and  in  material  equipment,  it  had, 
like  the  mighty  nation  to  whose  moral  and  intellectual 
advancement  it  is  contributing,  the  inspiration  of  lovaltv 
to  a  great  cause. 

From  50  students  and  a  faculty  consisting  of  a  regent 
and  three  professors,  in  1868,  to  3,729  students  and  400 
teachers  and  professors  in  1905;  from  instruction  in  a  few 
studies  to  thoroughly  organized  schools  in  a  great  variety 
of  studies ;  from  an  attendance  of  24  women  in  1870-71, 
the  year  w^hen  the  trustees  by  vote  admitted  women  as 
students,  to  ,723  in  1904-'05 ;  from  small  material  resources 
to  the  present  notable  equipment  and  endowments — these 
are  figures  that  indicate  the  remarkable  development  of 
the  University  of  Illinois  in  the  37  years  of  its  existence. 
Its  progress  has  been  especially  notable  since  1890.      It 


realizes  the  university  ideal.  With  the  pioneer  spirit  of 
the  West  it  seems  to  be  combining  the  conservatism  of  the 
East — elements  which  I  think  will  contribute  largely  to 
its  efficiency.  No  institution  in  this  country  has  a  brighter 
future. 

The  closing  years  of  the  old  and  the  opening  years  of  the 
new  century,  in  which  this  university  has  made  its  greatest 
progress,  have  added  to  the  world's  history  some  of  its 
brightest  pages.  The  historian  of  the  future  will  recall 
these  years  as  remarkable  in  their  encouragement  to  in- 
ventive genius,  in  their  contributions  to  knowledge,  and 
in  their  recognition  of  the  value  of  education  in  national 
development;  but  he  will,  I  am  sure,  regard  as  of  even 
greater  moment  the  impetus  which  they  have  given,  with 
the  increasingly  potential  influence  of  the  press,  to  the  awak- 
ening of  the  public  conscience  to  the  needs  and  dangers  that 
confront  not  only  governments  of  the  old  world,  founded 
upon  the  traditions  of  the  past,  but  apparently  even  the 
government  of  that  republic  among  whose  basic  principles 
are  individual  liberty  and  equality  of  opportunity,  under 
the  law,  for  all  its  citizens. 

Washington  saw  with  clear  vision  the  vital  part  educa- 
tion must  play  in  the  life  of  the  new  republic.  His  letters 
and  public  papers  give  frequent  expression  to  the  necessity 
for  sound  learning,  and  you  will  all  recall  his  final  admo- 
nition in  his  memorable  farewell  address : 

"  Promote  as  an  object  of  primary  importance  institutions 
for  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge.  In  proportion  as 
the  structure  of  a  government  gives  force  to  public  opinion, 
it  is  essential  that  public  opinion  should  be  enlightened." 

This  institution  furnishes  many  of  the  essentials  of  a  lib- 
eral education.     The  influence  of  such  a  school  is  incalcu- 


lal)lo.  Tho  riolit.  kind  of  rdiicalioii  (caclics  iis  liow  to  iiso 
wliJit  wo  know  and  liow  (o  liiid  what  we  wish  lo  know.  It 
gives  us  ideals  of  private  and  puhlic  vii-lnc  and  llic  incentive 
to  follow  thoni.  It  fosters  good  jiidgnKnit  and  sound  dis- 
cretion. It  distinguishes  between  the  real  and  the  sham. 
It  sheds  its  clear  light  into  the  earth's  dark  places.  It  leads 
us  out  of  bigotry  an<l  intolerance  and  points  the  way  to 
broader  sympathies  and  a  fuller  regard  for  the  rights  of 
others.  That  is  the  kind  of  education  you  give  here.  It  is 
the  education  that  so  many  of  our  universities  and  colleges 
are  giving  today,  and  in  giving  it  these  institutions  of  the 
West  are  keeping  step  with  their  sister  institutions  of  the 
East. 

Our  modern  educational  system  is  becoming  more  ra- 
tional. It  takes  account  of  actual  needs  ;  it  deals  less  with 
the  theoretical  and  more  with  the  practical.  It  looks  to 
the  development  of  character  as  well  as  to  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge.  It  makes  the  experience  of  the  past  serve  the 
purposes  of  the  present.  It  aims  to  educate  the  student,  not 
alone  as  an  individual,  but  as  an  integral  part  of  the  body 
politic.  It  anticipates  his  responsibilities  to  the  state  and 
prepares  him  to  meet  them. 

What,  then,  is  it,  in  brief,  that  such  a  university  as  this 
teaches?  The  various  branches  of  learning,  the  value  of 
experience,  the  dignity  of  labor,  the  proper  relation  of  the 
individual  to  his  associates  and  to  the  state.  It  encourages 
what  has  been  not  inaptly  called  "  the  spontaneous  element 
in  scholarship."  It  inculcates  independence  of  character, 
but  dependence  upon  government. 

But  there  is  more  here  than  material  facilities ;  more 
than  can  be  gathered  from  books ;  more  than  the  teaching 
that  trains  the  mind  and  the  exercises  that  develop  the  body. 


6 

There  are  the  great  silent  forces  ever  working  among  a  large 
body  of  students — the  daily  influence  of  teachers  and  pro- 
fessors and  associates — and  the  result  of  all  this  training  is 
seen  in  the  characters  of  the  men  and  women  who  go  from 
the  University  to  take  their  places  amid  the  activities  of  a 
larger  life. 

In  education  we  need  to  simplify  both  as  to  subjects  and 
as  to  methods.  Your  grouping  of  related  subjects  in  dis- 
tinct schools  is  a  step  in  that  direction.  Beyond  a  certain 
point,  when  the  school  attempts  much  it  accomplishes  little. 
Fewer  studies  and  more  study  is  a  good  watchword  for  the 
rational  education. 

Your  location  is  most  fortunate,  in  this  state  of  great  com- 
mercial interests  and  of  vast  agricultural  production  and  in 
these  beautiful  and  characteristic  communities  of  American . 
homes. 

I  am  glad  that  you  have  a  school  of  agriculture.  It  is  a 
recognition  of  the  contribution  made  to  national  progress 
by  a  representative  body  of  our  citizenship.  I  have  been 
told  since  coming  here  today  that  most  gratifying  results 
have  been  secured  from  your  experimental  and  research 
work.  The  support  which  the  state  and  the  national  gov- 
ernments have  already  given  to  the  university  for  this 
particular  school  evidences  the  interest  taken  in  it.  So 
firmly  do  I  believe  in  the  value  of  the  work  of  the  school  of 
agriculture  that  I  think  the  University  would  suffer  mate- 
rially were  there  any  curtailment  of  its  facilities.  Fortu- 
nately, the  desire  is  for  an  enlargement  of  its  scope  and  an 
increase  of  its  efficiency.  It  will  be  one  of  the  great  elements 
of  your  future  progress. 

I  am  glad,  too,  that  you  have  a  department  of  military 
science.     The  habits  of  neatness,  order,  and  prompt  obedi- 


encc  whicli  such  an  organization  fosters  are  (elements  of  any 
proper  scheme  of  education,  and  the  instruction  it  offers 
is  of  inestiniahh^  vahie  to  its  members.  Your  training 
here  in  this  l)ran('li  of  knowledge  is  of  the  greatest  service 
to  the  state  and  to  the  nation.  We  are  a  peace-loving 
people,  and  wo  desire  to  live  in  the  friendliest  relations 
with  all  the  powers  of  the  earth.  It  is  because  both  these 
things  are  true  that  I  am  in  favor  of  the  most  ample 
preparedness  in  our  military  and  naval  equipment.  So 
long  as  there  are  such  qualities  as  national  self-respect 
and  national  honor,  and  no  practicable  method  is  devised 
for  settling  certain  acute  differences  that  arise  between 
nations,  it  is  incumbent  upon  us  to  be  ready  at  all  times  to 
maintain  any  position  we  may  take  in  regard  to  them.  And 
so  long  as  we  have  laws,  so  long  as  the  sovereignty  of  state 
and  nation  must  be  upheld,  there  will  be  demand  for  men 
trained  in  military  science  and  tactics.  I  am  sure  there  is 
not  a  man  in  your  regiment  who  does  not  feel  that  he  will 
be  a  better  citizen  because  of  this  training.  It  is  as  certainly 
a  preparation  for  the  pursuits  of  peace  as  it  is  for  those  of 
war  if  that  dread  alternative  should  ever  confront  us.  This 
is  no  foolish  sentiment.  It  is  a  practical,  common-sense, 
patriotic  view^  of  our  duty  to  ourselves  and  to  the  cause  of 
liberty,  whose  noblest  exponent  is  this  American  Republic. 

You  give  special  attention  to  physical  training.  No 
school  that  neglects  that  essential  is  worthy  of  support. 

Your  well-equipped  library  brings  within  the  reach  of 
your  students  the  accumulated  wisdom  and  experience  of 
the  ages,  and  your  library  school  has  the  benefit  of  its 
facilities. 

In  establishing  colleges  and  schools  for  the  study  of  medi- 
cine in  its  various  branches,  science,  engineering,  architect- 


8 

ure,  law,  music,  and  art,  you  give  further  evidences  that 
you  have  set  for  yourselves  a  high  ideal  and  that  you  are 
living  up  to  it. 

You  are  not  experimenting  with  the  problem  of  co-educa- 
tion ;  you  seem  to  have  solved  it. 

I  congratulate  the  young  women  of  the  graduating  classes 
that  they  are  leaving  this  institution  at  a  time  when,  as  a 
people,  we  are  giving  a  broader  scope  and  a  greater  recog- 
nition to  the  work  and  influence  of  women.  We  recognize 
everywhere  their  faith,  their  sacrifice,  and  their  loyalty. 
Every  onward  step  in  the  world's  progress  has  had  the  in- 
spiration of  their  devoted  service.  The  self-reliance  that  is 
encouraged  by  the  life  here  need  not  mean  the  sacrifice  of 
charms  of  manner  or  graces  of  accomplishment ;  growth  in 
knowledge  of  current  events,  interest  in  w^orthy  undertak- 
ings, participation  in  wholesome  enterprises,  need  not  warp 
or  harden  a  woman's  nature.  Under  right  auspices  they 
broaden  and  brighten  her  life  to  the  benefit  of  herself  and 
those  who  come  within  the  range  of  her  influence  ;  but  all 
her  activities  should  be  subjected  to  the  supreme  test — are 
they  consistent  with  the  highest  interests  of  the  American 
home  ?  Every  system  of  education  that  is  worthy  of  encour- 
agement keeps  that  end  constantly  in  view,  for  the  home  is 
the  very  heart  of  the  nation,  and  it  must  beat  true  if  we  are 
to  realize  to  the  full  the  possibilities  of  our  national  life. 

I  congratulate  you  upon  the  character  and  extent  of  the 
various  organizations  within  the  university  that  have  been 
established  for  religious,  fraternal,  and  social  purposes. 
They  are  a  mighty  power  for  good  now  and  for  the  future. 

And  in  congratulating  this  student-body,  I  want  to  add  a 
word  of  hearty  congratulation  to  the  officers  and  the  corps 


of  professors  and  inslruclois,  tlmt  (hoy  have  siu;h  a  field  for 
the  nohle  service  to  which  Ihcv  are  devoting;  their  lives. 

Not  all  the  universities  can  he  or  need  he  like  yours  ;  hut 
each  may  fill  its  place  in  the  ^reat  field  of  educational  en- 
deavor and  each  do  worthily  wiiat  it  is  i^iven  to  do.  The 
henificent  results  of  cooperation  and  mutual  helpfulness  are 
nowhere  more  marked  than  in  that  field. 

The  educational  institutions  of  the  land  contrihute  to  an 
enlightened  citizenship,  and  the  nation  demands  much  of 
the  men  and  women  of  education.  Their  opportunities  have 
been  great ;  their  contributions  to  the  public  weal  should 
be  proportionately  great.  They  must  make  their  oppor- 
tunities serve  not  only  their  own  but  the  general  good.  In 
this  era  of  discussion,  important  public  questions  are  con- 
stantly before  the  people  for  their  consideration  and  judg- 
ment. The  making  of  books  goes  on  with  ever-increasing 
output ;  newspapers  and  magazines,  libraries,  and  other 
sources  of  information  are  adding  enormously  to  the  sum  of 
human  knowledge.  It  is  the  day  of  the  widest  diffusion  of 
public  intelligence.  It  is,  on  the  other  hand,  unfortunately 
a  time  when,  along  with  the  mature  consideration  and  care- 
ful deliberation  accorded  subjects  of  large  moment,  there 
is  much  that  is  hasty  and  superficial  in  public  comment. 

Growth  under  these  conditions  has  brought  forward  for 
solution  many  problems  that  will  tax  the  wisdom,  forti- 
tude, and  devotion  of  our  people.  But  there  is  no  occa- 
sion for  pessimism  in  dealing  with  them.  Public  discus- 
sion is  the  healthful  sign  of  public  interest.  Some  of  our 
problems  are  new ;  some  are  the  old,  old  questions  relating 
to  economic  policies  and  matters  of  internal  government. 
The  new  ones  are  the  very  natural  results  of  increase  in 
territory,  population,  and   material  prosperity.     We  have 


10 

had  great  problems  before  and  have  solved  them  rightly — 
that  is  the  American  way  of  solving  problems.  We  must 
approach  these  new  ones  in  the  same  spirit  with  which 
we  approached  and  successfully  solved  those  which  have 
gone  into  history. 

The  domestic  questions  that  confront  us,  having  to  do  with 
our  new  possessions,  the  treatment  of  great  commercial  and 
industrial  combinations,  the  regulation  of  immigration,  im- 
provement in  political  methods,  the  necessity  for  greater  hon- 
esty and  efficiency  in  government,  whether  municipal,  state, 
or  national,  and  the  international  question  of  our  relations 
with  the  other  powers  of  earth,  are  matters  with  which  the 
representatives  of  the  people  are  now  dealing  and  in  which 
every  citizen  has  directly  or  indirectly  a  concern. 

Some  features  of  our  attitude  toward  those  problems  are 
unfortunate.  Deplorable  as  are  certain  tendencies — in  our 
commercial  and  industrial  affairs,  in  educational  methods, 
in  moral  and  ethical  teaching — they  furnish  no  warrant  for 
sweeping  deductions  that  distort  the  facts.  We  magnify 
and  exaggerate,  and  in  our  hurry  and  excitement  we  miss 
the  true  perspectives  of  life.  We  deal  too  much  in  the  su- 
perlative of  denunciation  and  blind  our  eyes  to  the  good 
that  is  all  about  us.  Deep  down  under  all  hastily  formed 
public  opinion  are  the  sound  judgment  and  sober  common 
sense  of  millions  of  sturdy  and  reasonable  and  far-seeing 
Americans  who  believe  in  the  strength  of  our  institutions, 
in  our  ability  to  work  out  our  problems,  and  always,  in  the 
last  analysis,  in  our  capacity  for  self-government.  And  that 
splendid  citizenship  can  be  made  an  irresistible  force  in  the 
battle  for  civic  righteousness. 

There  should  be  more  conservatism  in  our  consideration 
of  public  questions,  not  the  conservatism  of  inertness  or 


11 

indecision,  hut  (ho  ('()ns(M-viitisin  (hat  is  opcii-iiiiiKhMl  (o  sug- 
gestion and  insis(s  upon  h(>arin^  ho(h  sides  of  a  (iu('s(  ion. 
Wo  need  to  cultivuto  the  cahnnoss  (iiat  typifies  strength  of 
purpose,  do[)(h  of  thouglit,  and  soundness  of  judgment.  We 
shall  then  suhstitute  energy  for  exaggeration  and  sanity  for 
sensationalism.  There  will  be  more  consideration  and  less 
clamor.  In  this  spirit  we  shall  be  better  able  to  deal  with 
the  questions  before  us  jus(.ly  and  fearlessly.  We  shall  en- 
courage those  policies  which  recognize  the  fact  that  material 
prosperity  is  but  a  poor  and  empty  thing  if  accomplished 
through  any  sacrifice  of  the  moral  sense  of  our  people,  and  we 
shall  see  back  of  all  and  over  all,  as  the  commanding  neces- 
sity of  our  times,  insistence  upon  obedience  to  law,  from  the 
highest  to  the  humblest. 

The  representatives  of  the  people  can  do  their  best  work 
only  when  encouraged  and  supported  in  their  efforts  to 
approach  these  questions  in  the  right  spirit.  The  burden 
of  responsibility  is  not  all  with  them.  The  people  must  do 
their  part.  Tf  we  are  to  have  cleaner  political  methods,  the 
beginning  must  be  made  in  the  primary  and  the  town- 
meeting,  and  the  citizen  must  contribute  his  share  in  his 
own  sphere,  how^ever  humble  it  may  be,  if  he  is  to  be  con- 
sistent when  he  demands  a  high  standard  of  those  who 
represent  him  in  the  various  grades  of  official  life.  And  so 
it  is  with  the  citizen's  relation  to  those  other  problems. 
Wherever  he  touches  them,  even  in  their  smaller  aspects, 
he  must  do  the  duty  that  lies  at  his  hand.  The  firmer  we 
fix  these  facts  in  our  minds  the  healthier  will  be  our  public 
sentiment. 

Human  nature  is  weak  at  times  and  likes  the  w^ay  of 
least  resistance.  It  is  easy  and  it  often  seems  expedient  to 
yield  to  the  outcry  of  the  hour ;  but  what  the  thoughtful 


12 

people  of  America  demand  of  an  official  is  that  he  shall  set 
his  face  like  flint  against  it  if  his  conscience  or  his  experi- 
ence convinces  him  that  it  is  a  mistaken  cry.  Well  has  it 
been  said  : 

"  Patriotism  must  be  faithful  as  well  as  fervent ;  states- 
manship must  be  wise  as  well  as  fearless — not  the  statesman- 
sliip  which  will  command  the  support  of  the  hour,  but  the 
judgment  of  posterity." 

What  days  of  stress  and  anxiety  came  to  the  patient  and 
devoted  Lincoln,  but  what  glory  is  his  that  he  saw  beyond 
any  idle  clamor  of  the  moment  into  his  country's  great 
future !  How  cruel  was  the  burden  of  misrepresentation 
and  abuse  put  upon  William  McKinley  in  those  dreadful 
weeks  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Spanish  war ;  but,  to  his 
eternal  honor,  he  stood  immovable  in  his  patriotic  purpose 
not  to  go  into  the  conflict  until  prepared,  as  much  as  lay  in 
his  power,  for  its  fearful  possibilities.  And  of  his  successor 
no  worthier  record  can  be  put  upon  the  pages  of  history 
than  that  he  would  not  allow  the  demagogue  or  the  shallow 
enthusiast  to  swerve  him  a  hair's  breadth  from  his  determi- 
nation to  discriminate  neither  for  nor  against  the  interests 
of  capital  or  labor,  but  to  hold  each  to  its  accountability 
under  the  law.  However  much  some  men  may  differ  with 
Theodore  Roosevelt  as  to  details  of  his  policies,  there  is  in 
this  country  today  a  national  conviction  that  he  stands  before 
the  world  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  forces  that  are 
making  for  the  moral  uplift  of  mankind. 

It  has  become  popular  in  some  quarters  to  characterize  the 
leaders  of  commerce  and  the  leaders  of  industry  as  sordid 
and  selfish  and  grasping,  but  there  are  men  today  in  the 
ranks  of  business  and  in  the  ranks  of  labor  who  illustrate  the 


13 

best  typos  of  Amoricaii  citiz(Misliij).  Such  ji  rrjucsciitative 
Ameriaui  was  that  ^irat  citizen  of  Calilbriiia,  whose  death 
some  months  ago  was  feh  as  a  personal  benmvement  by  his 
countrymen  on  the  Tacilic  coast.  1  recall  anion^  many 
editorial  comments  made  at  the  time  this  just  and  beautiful 
tribute : 

"The  death  of  Irving  M.  Scott,  'the  man  wlio  built  the 
Oregon,^  removes  from  earthly  activity  one  of  those  captains 
of  industry  whose  achievements  are  so  closely  linked  with 
our  marvelous  industrial  development  as  to  give  his  name 
an  honored  place  in  the  annals  of  our  national  progress. 

"  Mr.  Scott  built  the  Oregon,  '  the  bulldog  of  the  Navy,' 
whose  famous  trip  around  the  Horn  was  one  of  the  thrilling 
chapters  in  the  history  of  the  Spanish-American  war.  To 
have  built  the  Oregon  was  distinction  enough  for  one  man, 
but  this  was  only  an  incident  in  the  busy  career  of  a  man 
who  founded  and  organized  a  great  industry.  He  built 
other  battleships  for  our  ow^n  and  other  navies.  But  Mr. 
Scott  was  something  more  than  a  builder  of  merchant  ves- 
sels and  battleships.  He  was  the  generous  patron  of  art 
and  education,  a  contributor  to  philanthropic  enterprises, 
and  was  actively  and  honorably  identified  with  the  political 
activities  of  his  state.  He  was  a  splendid  type  of  that 
sturdy  school  of  self-made  Americans  who  created  wealth 
out  of  mechanical  genius  and  ability  for  organization. 

"  The  death  of  this  man  who  did  things  is  a  reminder  of 
the  near  approach  of  that  happy  time  when  we  shall  grate- 
fully place  upon  the  highest  pedestals,  along  with  the  poets 
and  soldiers,  the  figures  of  men  who  organized  mammoth 
industries,  who  revolutionized  processes  of  production ;  when 
we  shall  panegyrize  the  doers  as  well  as  the  dreamers,  the 
builders  as  well  as  the  heroes  of  military  conquest. 

''  The  time  is  coming,  no  doubt,  with  the  beating  of 
swords  into  plowshares,  when  we  will  build  monuments  to 
the  great  organizers  of  industry." 


14 

And  of  the  late  P.  M.  Arthur,  that  fine  American  type 
from  the  ranks  of  labor,  it  was  said : 

"  The  sudden  death  of  Mr.  P.  M.  Arthur,  Grand  Chief  of 
the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Engineers  of  the  United 
States,  is  for  many  reasons  a  national  calamity.  He  was  an 
organizer  and  labor  leader,  and  made  a  conspicuous  success 
of  the  work  undertaken  by  him  without  recourse  to  any  of 
the  expedients  which  smaller  and  less  capable  men  deem 
essential  in  securing  for  skilled  labor  the  consideration  at 
the  hands  of  the  employer  to  which  it  considers  itself 
entitled.  He  was  unfaltering  in  his  loyalty  to  the  interests 
of  those  who  chose  him  their  representative,  and  at  the 
same  time  he  was  just  and  considerate  in  his  dealings  with 
employers.  *  *  *  The  secret  of  Mr.  Arthur's  usefulness 
lay  in  the  fact  that  he  rarely  made  and  never  pressed  un- 
reasonable demands.  He  was  open-minded  on  all  subjects, 
and  if  shown  that  what  his  men  wanted  was  more  than  they 
were  entitled  to,  he  would  not  permit  them  to  insist  upon 
their  views  of  what  was  proper.  In  conference  with  rail- 
road managers,  he  was  a  clear-headed  man  of  business,  with 
a  perfect  comprehension  of  every  fact  bearing  on  the  matter 
under  consideration.  As  a  consequence,  he  was  always  wel-' 
come,  was  treated  with  respect  and  consideration,  and,  in 
the  event  of  trouble,  his  coming  was  hailed  as  giving  assur- 
ance that  the  right  would  prevail  against  all  influences  to 
establish  the  wrong.  The  career  of  Chief  Arthur  shows 
that  the  highest  usefulness  and  the  most  honorable  promi- 
nence in  labor  leadership  are  not  attained  by  strife  and 
contention,  but  by  sound  judgment,  a  recognition  of  the 
rights  of  others,  and  a  character  meriting  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  the  public." 

The  demand  of  the  hour  is  for  unceasing  warfare  upon 
corruption  in  all  its  aspects,  but  we  must  always  remember 
that  reforms  to  be  practical  must  be  reasonable ;  there  must 


16 

be  individual  |)articij)ation  in  every  niovcnicnt  lor  civic 
betterment.  The  citizen  must  not  shirk  liis  duty.  lie 
must  help  to  improve  the  agencies  through  which  such 
betterment  is  to  be  secured. 

The  influence  of  a  free  press  must  not  be  impaired,  nor 
must  the  great  body  of  American  newspapers — among  the 
noblest  agencies  of  enlightenment  and  civilization — be 
judged  by  a  few  who  have  prostituted  their  high  calling  to 
ignoble  uses. 

A  higher  standard  for  our  judiciary;  fewer  laws  and 
better  enforcement  of  them  ;  a  wider  public  appreciation  of 
the  essentials  of  democracy  and  of  the  principles  upon 
which  this  government  was  founded,  will  help  us  to  the 
solution  of  the  problems  before  us,  and  as  the  very  basis 
and  foundation  of  our  national  life,  we  must  conserve  those 
forces  w^hich  insure  the  efficiency  of  our  schools  and  safe- 
guard the  purity  of  our  homes. 

Every  village  and  hamlet,  every  municipality,  every  com- 

monw^ealth,  must  assume  its  share  and  make  its  contribution 

to  the  general  welfare.     The  nation  expects  much  of  this 

great  state : 

**'  Not  without  thy  wondrous  story,  Illinois,' 

Can  be  writ  the  nation's  glory,  Illinois : 

On  the  record  of  thy  years, 

Abram  Lincoln's  name  appears, 

Grant  and  Logan  and  our  tears,  Illinois." 

What  memories  cluster  around  the  names  of  our  mighty 
dead !  What  an  inspiration  their  lives  furnish  us !  How 
splendid  is  the  prospect  if  w^e  press  on  sustained  by  the  same 
faith,  actuated  by  the  same  lofty  purpose,  seeking  to  give 
to  this  people  in  ever-increasing  measure  equality  of  oppor- 
tunity and  honesty  and  integrity  in  government. 


16 

In  his  first  annual  address  to  Congress,  December  3, 1861, 
President  Lincoln  said  : 

''  From  the  first  taking  of  our  national  census  to  the  last 
are  70  years,  and  we  find  our  population  at  the  end  of  the 
period  eight  times  as  great  as  it  was  at  the  beginning.  The 
increase  of  those  other  things  which  men  deem  desirable 
has  been  even  greater.  We  thus  have  at  one  view  what 
the  popular  principle,  applied  to  government  through  the 
machinery  of  the  states  and  the  Union,  has  produced  in  a 
given  time  ;  and  also  what,  if  firmly  maintained,  it  promises 
for  the  future.  *  *  *  The  struggle  of  today  is  not  alto- 
gether for  today,  it  is  for  the  vast  future  also.  With  a  re- 
liance on  Providence  all  the  more  firm  and  earnest,  let 
us  proceed  in  the  great  task  which  events  have  devolved 
upon  us." 

In  dealing  with  present-day  problems  we  must  have  the 
faith  that  inspired  Lincoln,  the  faith  that  sees  in  the  past 
an  earnest  of  the  future,  the  faith  that  halts  not  even  at 
failure,  but  that  has  in  it  the  spirit — 

"  To  thrill  with  the  joy  of  girded  men, 
To  go  on  forever  and  fail,  and  go  on  again." 

Reunited  in  the  bonds  of  national  fraternity,  all  sections 
of  our  beloved  country  now  march  shoulder  to  shoulder  in 
the  great  forward  movement  of  our  people  toward  the 
achievement  of  their  splendid  destin}^  God  grant  that  the 
spirit  of  fraternity  may  grow  deeper  and  ever  deeper  in  this 
fair  land  of  ours,  and  that  distinctions  of  class,  unjust  dis- 
criminations as  between  man  and  man,  the  exactions  of 
greed,  and  the  sophistries  of  the  demagogue  may  find  no 
lodgment  in  the  hearts  of  our  people. 

Among  the  greatest  of  the  forces  for  progress  in  the 
struggle  for  a  broader  and  juster  national  life  will  be  the 
influence  of  the  men  and  women  of  education. 


3  0 


12  105630229 


